HOW TO DELIVER PERFECT AMBIENCE, PERFECT ATMOSPHERE AND THE PERFECT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE WHILE YOUR COMPETITORS SIT OUT IN THE COLD.

 MAKE SURE THAT EIGHTY THREE OUT OF EVERY HUNDRED PEOPLE CHOOSE YOUR RESTAURANT OVER THE ONE NEXT DOOR…..AND HOW TO KEEP IT THAT WAY.

I know I’m talking to many different types of restaurateur, many different producers of fine cuisine, but I hope that all of you have something in common; that you are passionate about what you do.  Also, that you are always looking to improve your customers experience, and create that magic unique selling point.

Your USP is more important than your food in many ways, because everyone will be saying they do the best food, so it’s up to you to make yourself stand out in the crowd.

Now, I can tell you about how to create ambience in your restaurant, and therefore how to create a more memorable experience for your customers.  Of course, it then follows, and you don’t really need me to tell you this, that your customers become ambassadors for your business, and word of mouth is the most powerful way of increasing our trade.

And the magic word is…Candlelight.  Most people love it, some hate it.   When given a choice between two similar restaurants, eighty three people out of a hundred would prefer the one with candlelight to the one without. ( Clearcraft survey 2006), and if you don’t have it, then eighty three out of a hundred people may walk by. They may never get the chance to taste your fantastic food, because they weren’t drawn in by the magic of candlelight.  Then they’ll never be out there telling everyone how wonderful your restaurant is.

So it seems like a pretty simple concept doesn’t it. We stick some candles in the restaurant and we’ve got instant ambience, instant romance, instant success.  Well maybe so, for one night. But then, if you’ve chosen the wrong ones, you may have saddled yourself with a whole load more work, and expense, that you hadn’t counted on.  Worse still, your staff may get fed up with them, stop using them, and suddenly your back to square one and out of pocket. Remember, the aim of the exercise is to get more people in, and keep them coming in.

So take some time and make the right decision, because not all candles are the same.

Candles come in three main guises.

Traditional Wax Candles

They may be either large pillar candles like those you get in a church, or the classic dinner taper, for which you will need an elegant candle stick.  These tend to suit classic dining rooms and old country inns.  They are fantastically atmospheric and work really well if you have large tables and plenty of space.  Be careful when buying these sorts of candles, that you are buying a good quality candle. Generally, you are better off paying more for a good candle than trying to get the cheapest.

Many Chinese manufactured candles, particularly some of those that you buy cheaply in supermarkets, are made of whipped wax, which means that the centre of the candle, hidden inside a smooth, solid outer wax wall, is like whipped egg white.  This means that the centre burns away very quickly, and in next to no time you have an ugly, large smoky flame that is almost invisible inside a wax pillar, until the whole thing collapses.  You can tell a whipped wax candle from a solid candle by comparing the weight of each one in your hand. The whipped one will be much lighter.

Test the manufacturers claimed burning time. If a 120 hour burn time is stated on the candle, but after 60 hours it looks rubbish, the candle flame has disappeared inside the candle or it has simply turned to mush, then you only get half the claimed value.

Tea lights

The second type, and probably the most commonly used type of candle is the humble tea light. These miniature candles appear, on first impressions to be the cheapest and simplest option, but this may not be the case!

You must again be sure you buy a quality item.  Many tea lights say they burn for four hours when they quite often don’t last. And even if they did, four hours is barely enough for an evening service, particularly in winter. 

Again, test the manufacturer’s claims before you buy a large amount. And if three to four hours burning time is not enough to get you through an evening, don’t buy them!

The cheapest tea lights available are actually from supermarkets or IKEA!  However, you now have to weigh up the cost of someone actually going to get them. A tea light that only costs two pence may cost £5 to collect. See if your catering wholesaler will deliver. This will save you money in the long run.

A t-light can look rather cheap as well which doesn’t send out the right message to your customers

They can be a lot more expensive than they seem, because you end up throwing so many away, half used, or worse still, half spilled over your table, linen or caking up the inside of your candle holder.

This is one of the biggest banes of any restaurateur’s life, and even worse for their staff.  I hear it over and over again.  People that use them regularly quite simply say “I hate tea lights!  Surely there must be an alternative!”

And of course, there is.  The oil candle.

Oil candles

Oil candles come in two forms – the refillable type, or the disposable pre-filled plastic type.

Firstly, pre-filled fuel cells.

These are the most convenient of all candles, can be easily moved around, and have a nice consistent burn, but as with anything, there are drawbacks.

The fuel cells are ugly and plastic so have to be covered by an opaque or semi translucent shade.

They are more expensive to run than t-lights or refillable oil candles (up to twice as expensive).

To use all the fuel in the container, they have to run out during service.

Sometimes the wicks fall into the container and cannot be retrieved so the whole fuel container is wasted.

There is a lot of wastage – the plastic container and metal wick structure are thrown away every time

Last but not least there is the refillable glass oil candles.

Generally they consist of a glass body, and a wick. When filled with a very high quality, soot less paraffin (Ordinary paraffin or kerosene simply will not do), they provide a clean, long lasting and very economical candle light.

As there is no wax involved, there is no mess, and also no waste.  They tend to come in many different varieties, and because the fuel is available in many colours, you will always find one that matches your style and décor.

The main maintenance required is re-filling, which, dependent on the model, may need to be done daily, weekly or maybe as little as fortnightly.  If you choose a good supplier, then filling should be easy as they should provide a filling bottle and nozzle which will fit right inside the candle so you just gently squeeze the bottle and it takes a few seconds.

The running costs are typically around one and a half pence an hour.

Some simple ones can cost as little as a couple of pounds, so your initial investment need not be large. And once you consider the costs saved on wax removal, wastage of half used candles and the variable costs of wax, an oil candle is often more efficient, more economical and more pleasing on the eye.

On the down side for an oil candle, the wicks can be a little fiddly to set up the first time to get just the flame you want, but on the other hand, you can get just the flame you want, where wax candles cannot be adjusted.

As with pre filled fuel cells, there is no fire hazard as the fuel will not burn without a wick, but you shouldn’t drink the fuel!  It’s particularly important to keep the fuel away from children under three as it can be very harmful to them.

They can be easily moved around. This may seem an insignificant point, but if you have a family with young children, you do not want them playing with fire so you want to move any candles away. A lit wax candle will quickly deposit a trail of wax behind it at the slightest touch.

It also means you can light candles in your window area, to draw people in, and then move them to other tables as and when required.

One last thing on tea lights versus oil candles.   If you put tea lights on your tables, your valuable customers, the ones that really count (that’s all of them by the way), the sole source of your success and your livelihood, will know that you think they’re worth about four pence.

Put something rather better than that in front of them and they will feel a whole lot more valued.

Candle deployment

So now you know how to choose the right candles for your restaurant, there are a few things you need to remember, to get the most benefit from them.

They are simple common sense things to do that are easily forgotten.

Number one. Remember to light them!  You don’t have to light all of them, but get a member of staff to go outside and tell you which ones look best from outside, and are likely to do the best job at attracting people inside.

If you don’t have a large window, where people can see diners, put them on window ledges and in your entrance area. 

Secondly, if you don’t want to light all the candles, always light the candle when someone takes a table. Ensure that your staff are on the ball. Never wait to be asked by your customer to light the candle as this will quickly become a point of annoyance.

Similarly, if a candle blows out, or runs out, relight or replace it immediately.

Finally, light a few candles in areas of the restaurant that do not have diners in as this will make the whole of your restaurant more inviting.

Ambience is right up there in peoples mind as what makes a restaurant or particular meal memorable and if your restaurant doesn’t have it, in spades, you could lose out in today’s challenging market.  Choose the right candles and follow these simple rules and you will be in the best position to grab those customers.

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

"To light up every restaurant in Britain with innovation and style. And have fun doing it!!"

Clearcraft was established in 1990, initially as a market trading business at Greenwich Market. We had one stall, and sold our glass candles, that we imported from Germany.

We have been passionate about oil candles since we first dicovered them in Germany, and now we design lamps, own patents on lamps and have been safety consultants with ROSPA for these kinds of products.

After finding the products in 1991, we soon set up our own glass blowing factory and started designing and making our own. The business grew and we supplied many retailers throughout the UK, including TESCO, ASDA The GADGET SHOP and CONRAN.

Now, we concentrate exclusively on the restaurant market, although our oil is still available direct from ourselves.

Because we have chosen to specialise in restaurant supply, all of our innovation is led by our customers. When we can see a need, then we try to fill it with a new design, or modification of an old one. Last autumn for example, we introduced six new designs, in direct response to a demand for candles with a protected flame and also for candles that are very small, to take the place of t-lights.

We want to show you the perfect way to enhance the ambience of your restaurant in the same way as we have done for, among others, two of the five Asian restaurants with a Michelin star, which are the Tamarind restaurant and Amaya.  In addition to those, we supplied The Painted Heron, voted best restaurant in Chelsea, before they moved on. Hundreds of other restaurants, including some as famous as the River Cafe, use our oil candles and oil lamps on their tables to create the perfect atmosphere for a wonderful dining experience, and you can create that too! All this for as little as a penny an hour running cost!

In a recent survey, it was found that 83 out of 100 people prefer a restaurant with candle light to one without, and we are passionate about giving you the best possible product for your restaurant.

Oil candles, or oil lamps, are beautiful and add a really stylish finish to your tabletop. They are very clean, do not make the mess and waste of traditiional wax candles or t-lights, and they always look as beautiful as when you first light them. They run on highly refined, clean burning lamp oil, which is availabe in nine colours.

If you already use candles, imagine the beauty of natural light, with no more cleaning wax out of glasses, or off tables and candle sticks!!

The oil is very safe and will not burn without a wick. and all of our lamps are tested for strength and stability.